The present invention relates to a device for fly fishing comprising a line reel for reeling in the fly line when utilizing preferably single-hand rods for fly fishing, and a reeling device cooperating with the line reel.
Fly fishing, a sport with very long history, differs from all other types of rod fishing since the imitations, the flies, provided with hooks lack the necessary weight to be cast out over the water. It is therefore the weight of the fly line that generates the requisite energy to carry the fly out through the casting movement.
The primary function of the conventional fly reel, provided with a reeling device and designed to be placed on the fly rod in a reel attachment so that the line spool in the direction of rotation and the extended fly line are aligned in the longitudial direction of the fly rod, is to store the fly line reeled onto the line spool. The length of the fly line does not normally exceed about 30 meter and a backing line is therefore placed on the line spool first so that a fish caught on the hook can pull out a sufficient length of line to prevent the thin leader with the fly at its end, from snapping. In certain cases, shooting-head, an even thinner running line is attached to the fly line, in that case shortened, which will also be termed the fly line in the following. Another function of the reel is that it may facilitate bringing in a fish that has been caught, since it is often provided with an adjustable brake acting in pull-out direction while the fisherman is reeling in the line and the fish in the other direction. Conventional fly reels are known with turning handles acting directly on the line spool, or with winders that act on the line spool via gears. One drawback with the directly acting handle is that the fisherman has little chance of reeling the line spool in high speed. It is more important in fly fishing than other forms of hook fishing to keep the line to the hooked fish taut since the fly hook is often small and is attached in the outer parts of the fish""s mouth. It often happens, particularly with large fish, that after having pulled out the fly line and part of the backing line, the fish turns and rushes towards the fisherman. Since the circumference of the emptied line spool is then extremely small, it is impossible to reel in the loose line. The geared fly reel is preferable in such situations. However, it instead has the drawback of being larger, more difficult to wind and heavier. Despite its drawback, therefore, the fly reel with the winder acting directly on the line spool is usually preferred since it offers the last weight. Another drawback with the decreasing circumference, regardless of whether the fly reel is provided with directly acting winder or with gears, is that the braking force set in the fly line increases at it is pulled out from the line spool by a fish, which is extremely unfavourable since the resistance of the fly line in the water also increases as it is pulled out, resulting in the combined increased braking force, which is thus extremely undesirable, may cause the leader to break. It is also known to use so-called automatic fly reels, lacking any winder which, by means of a strong tension spring, reel in the fly line, by means of a control device operated by the fisherman, via gear transmission. The purpose of these reels is, in the event of movements, to be able to rapidly reel in the entire length of fly line cast out, which may be laying on or in the water and thus exerts considerable resistance. Or to reel in the loose line lying on the surface in order to achieve contact with a hooked fish quickly, after which the fish may work against the force in the tension spring while being drawn in. The drawbacks of such reels are that, due to the strong tension spring and the gear arrangement, they are considerably heavier than the geared fly reel, and that tightening of the tension spring which is usually achieved by means of a ratchet wheel arranged on the side of the reel, requires strength and several turns and should be done before the fly line is cast out. The tightening is otherwise performed when a suitable length is pulled of the line spool, which is hard work, before the fly line is cast out. Both these procedures are naturally extremely timeconsuming and troublesome.
In the case of extremely light fly rods, especially modern rods manufactured from carbon fiber material and the like, as is also emphasized in the marketing, due to its weight which often greatly exceeds that of the fly rod, the reel placed on the fly rod is often found disturbing to the rhythm of casting. It is known to unload the fly rod by placing the fly reel differently, for instance through US patent specifications U.S. Pat. No. 1, 013,347, U.S. Pat. No. 2,101,174, U.S. Pat. No. 2,361,189 where conventional fly reels are proposed with various arrangements for attaching them primarily to belt worn around the fisherman""s waist. British patent specification GB 1 585 213 describes primarily a harness, with various arrangements for attaching the reel to the harness, designed to be carried an the chest of the fisherman. However, fly fishing as carried out through the centuries has another, considerably more troublesome drawback that has not been eliminated whether the conventional or so-called automatic fly reel is placed on the fly rods as intended, or anywhere else.
During casting of the fly line, usually accomplished by repeated casting movements to and fro to keep the line in the air as it is gradually fed out, the fly fisherman must use both hands. One hand is used to hold the rod and the other, the line control hand, releases, brakes and accelerates the line at the turn between casts. If the line is released before the intended cast is complete, it will lose its kinetic energy and drop straight down. This procedure enables cast lengths of approximately 20-25 meters, to be achieved with a single-hand rod, even more by skilled casters. When retrieving the fly line in the most usual type of fishing, i.e. wet-fly fishing, the fly is also retrieved directly through the fly line with one hand, which is necessary since different types of flies require smooth or jerky movements, often relatively slow, and the fisherman must sense the fish""s bite directly in the hand to be able to raise the rod with the other hand and achieve firm hooking of the fish which often taking a cautious bite at the fly. Furthermore, the bite and contact with the fish felt directly through the hand is a satisfying moment for the fisherman and is one of the characteristics of traditional fly fishing.
Contrary to fishing with multiplier or spinning reels where the bait itself constitutes the casting weight, which can be cast out and then reeled in by means of the reel, the fly fisherman must pull out a sufficient length of the line from the spool for the intended cast every time he moves to a new casting position. In order to perform a fly cast of normal length, approximately 20-25 meters, a length of approximately 15-20 meters must be pulled cut from the spool before casting can commence, not counting the length already pulled out in the rod and leader. The fisherman may also choose to pull out the line from the line spool, however only by an arm""s length since the spool has rotation resistance due to the brake being set to the strength of a hooked fish, at the same time as gradually feeding out the line through repeated casts, so called false casts, to keep the line in the air. However, this method is more time-consuming and limits the length of the cast. If the fisherman is an land or in a boat, for instance, the length of the line pulled out will fall on the ground or in the boat around the fisherman""s feet. When fishing in running water, for salmon or sea trout, for instance, when the fisherman usually wades in the water so he can efficiently get the fly out into the main current, the line is quickly drawn down in an arc downstream of the fisherman. When the fisherman then fishes in the fly, or pulls in the fly line, the length of line previously pulled out again falls onto the ground, in the boat, or in the water, to be cast out again, and so on. When fishing is discontinued, in order to move to a new position for instance, the line is reeled on the reel again and the procedure must be repeated at the new site.
It lies in the nature of fly fishing to quickly move to casting position for a fish appearing visually, when it breaks the surface of the water to catch insects on or just above the surface, and the site for fly fishing, particularly from land, is thus frequently changed. It may then be a question of seconds to get the fly in the right position in front of the fish, or in the characteristic ring on the water, during the brief period after such a movement when the fish is within reach of a cast. The procedure of reeling in an pulling out the fly line prior to cast is extremely time-consuming, which thus also reduces the chances of catching the fish in comparison with fishing with multiplier or spinning equipment where the fisherman can immediately move himself and also cast the bait following such a movement. It is a paradox that fly fishing, which normally requires the greatest mobility and speed of all types of sport fishing, should have this time-consuming drawback.
What is worse, since the line lies on the ground, boat or water before casting, the fly line also encounters all kinds of obstructions. The light fly line has a remarkable ability to became tangled in stones, plants, twigs and roots, parts of a jetty, etc, or to catch in the duckboards and other objects such as oars, bag nets and fishing bags, etc, when the fisherman is in a boat. The fisherman must therefore extricate the line from such obstructions and arrange it before casting. In spite of this the line often catches during the actual cast, or the loops of the loose line became tangled together resulting in immediate stop, or the fisherman must divert concentration to release the line with his line control hand at the same time as keeping the line in the air, which usually leads to the fly landing in the wrong place for the intended fish. In both cases a new cast must be effected. The fisherman often unconsciously moves his feet while casting and treads on the line, or loops of the line slip in under his feet, which may also lead to an immediate stop. Also the necessity of choosing fishing positions as to the surface, always keeping an eye on the line and correcting it, maintaining the self-discipline of not moving one""s feet, irrespective of how unsuitable they may be placed fore the balance of the body, all constitute troublesome and hindering drawbacks both for casting and fishing. Occasionally, when a fish has taken the fly and is rushing away, loops of the loose line get caught so effectively in something such as a root, a jetty or the duckboards in a boat, that the thin fly leader breaks and, for that reason alone, the fish is lost. All these problems of the loose line of course reduce the chances of catching the fish aimed at. Besides which, the fly line is a precision-made, expensive instrument which is unnecessarily damaged and its useful life is shortened as a result of always lying on the ground, etc, and the treatment it is thus subjected to in order to jerk it free from obstacles, etc, as well as the inevitability of the fisherman treading on the line against sharp and wearing objects.
When fishing from a float ring, i.e. the fisherman floating in the water supported by a float ring at waist level, which has become extremely popular particularly in USA, the same problems of the loose line catching in the cover of the ring and being retarded in the water are also applicable.
When fishing in running water the loose line is a constant, extremely troublesome, obstacle since the arc of line pulled down by the force of the current offers considerable resistance, which the fisherman must overcome by pulling in arm""s lengths of line in repeated, otherwise unnecessary, false casts until the energy in the part of the line being cast overcomes the resistance, whereafter, and only thereafter, the cast can be thrown out to its full length. Otherwise the line must be taken in an held in loops in the line control hand to be gradually released during casting. This procedure is also troublesome and detracts from concentration. If several loops are released or dropped from the line control hand, which must also retain the part of the line to be cast, they usually become tangled and get caught in the rod rings. Each part-cast should therefore be limited to the size of the loop so that more false casts than would otherwise be necessary must be performed. These procedures are of course both time-consuming and exhausting, particularly when the fisherman is standing low in the water and must keep the cast high, at the same time as parrying the force of the current, besides which casting for this type of fishing is usually performed frequently and generally using heavy equipment.
The invention provides a solution of these and other associated problems. The fly-fishing device according to the invention is characterized in that the line reel comprises a line spool which, via friction operation, is designed to be operated by a drive means initiated by the fisherman, the line reel being preferably placed under one of the fisherman s upper arms while fishing, and also to a winder cooperating with and adapted to the line reel, which can be placed on the fly rod.
The object of the present invention is to provide a simple method of directly casting the fly line on all occasions when a cast is required, without limitation of the features of traditional fly fishing, i.e. casting and using the hands to fish the fly through the fly line, and thereby eliminating all the drawbacks of preparing the fly line and the hindrance it constitutes when fishing.
The invention also relates to eliminating the drawbacks arising due to the position of the fly reel on the fly rod, combined with the feature of storing the whole quantity of both backing and fly line, is heavy, and has a line spool with a circumference that decreases as the line is pulled from the spool.
The invention also offers the chance of fly fishing by casting and pulling in the fly line, or recovering fish caught with the line, using the hands, without the need for a fly reel for storing the lines being placed on the rod. The drawback of the weight of the fly reel and lines is thus eliminated.
All fly lines manufactured today and over the last 30 years or so are classed with regard to weight in accordance with the American classification system AFTM:A (American Fishing Tackle Manufacturers Association) where the weight of the line per length unit is the basic magnitude to which the fly rod is also adjusted at manufacture, and which is stated on each fly rod. According to this system fly lines are divided into classes from AFTM-1 up to AFTM-12 and occasionally more. In the lowest class, AFTM-1, the line has a weight of approximately 0.45 gram per meter, whereas the heaviest line, AFTM-10, which is only occasionally used for singlehand fly fishing, for instance, has a weight of approximately 2 gram per meter. This means that, with very little force, only the part of the free, unloaded fly line which in reeling direction is behind and between the fisherman""s hand and the line spool can be reeled in when the fisherman fishes in the fly by hand or pulls in the fly line. The force required is only the slight amount required to overcome the weight of the part of the line which is substantially in vertical direction between the line spool and the ground, etc, where the fisherman is standing, substantially Irrespective of how much of the line may be lying on the ground, etc. This is achieved by means of a fly-fishing device in accordance with the invention, in the following termed line reel 1.